"Changes in Time": A Transgender Journey in Three Acts

Abstract

"Changes in Time" is a trilogy of plays dramatizing three key moments in my transgender protagonist's life over a span of time from the mid-1950s to a somewhat unspecified present. In the first, "Wishes," Lorraine McGowan is a 14-year-old just beginning to see how different she is; in "Dresses," Lorraine is in her mid-30s, on the cusp of emerging into her self; while "Changes" introduces Laurence, now transitioned and in charge of his life. The plays are set in an earlier era to show how powerfully the strictures of culture and time affect a person's ability to seek - or to find - help. Each play casts just one other character - Lorraine's friend, mother, or father - so that each can bring out facets of Lorraine/Laurence's emotions and explore the difficulties involved in claiming his proper gender.